Disappearing garage-door



` G. B. BOUGHTON. D ISAPPEARING GARAGE DOOR. APPLICATION flLED APR. l. 1919.

1,341,041. 'mama May25,1'92o.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

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' `G B. BOUGHTON.

DISAPPEARING GARAGE DOOR. 4 APPLICATION mep APR. 1. 1919,.

1,341,041.I` l Patented-Mayzmszo.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 vto section being by preference hal PATENT Acrt-*Icr..`

l 4 GEORGE B. BOUGHTON, OF ST. LGUIS, MISSOURI.

l DISPPEARING GARAGE-DOOR. i

. Specification of Letters Patent.

.ratentea May 25, 1920.

vApplication filed April 1, 1919. Serial No. 256,674,

vTo all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE B. BoUGH'roN, a citizen of the United States residing at St. Louis, in the county .of St. Louis City and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ADisappearing Garage-Doors; and I doV declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make anduse the saine. l

My invention has for its object to improve upon the garage door 'disclosed in my United States Patent, No. 1,261,686 of April 2,1918, to lsuch an extent as to require less space 1n the top of the building for allowing the door to open; to provide for opening and closing of the door without the necessity of moving it through so great a portion of the buildings interior; and to provide for balancing the door without the' use of cables and. wei hts attached thereto.

ith the foregoing in view, the invention resides in the novel features'of construction and theunique association of parts to be hereinafter fully described and claimed, the Y descriptive matter being supplemented by J the accompanying drawmgs.

Figure 1 is a vertical section of a garage equipped with a door constructed in accordance with my invention, the door being closed,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view showing the door partly opened.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section illustrating the door completely open and located in the top of the' building.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectionon the plane indicated by the line 4 4 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates a garage or other building having a door frame 2 rovided with vertical tracks 3 at its sides. he door v4 is formed of upper and lower sections 5 and 6, respectively, hinged' at 7 thefuper f the wi ai of the lower section. n j

Normally horizontal levers 8 are fulcrumed between their ends at 9 to brackets or the like 10 at the sides of the building 1, and the front ends ,of these levers 'are pivoted at .11 to the, lower door section 6, near the upper edge of the latter. Coiled springs or other elastic members 12 extend across ythe angles between the front ends of the levers 8 and the door section 6 and exert their tension to relatively rock said door section and the levers, so that they have a tendency to balance the weight of the door, and in addition to the action of these springs, wei hts 13 may be mounted on the levers 8 in t e rear of their fulcr'uins; and in most instances I will employ additional springs 14 extending y from the hinge line of the door to the sides ofthe building. By providing the parts 12, 13 and 14, the weight of the door is balanced approximately, without the use of cables having weights,` as disclosed in my prior atent referred to above; and its has been ound that the door operates much more easily when the cables and weights are eliminate l Y The lower end of the lower door section 6 is provided with shoes 15 engaging the tracks 3-to allow saidl end to move only in a vertical direction, and a link lextends diagonally from the front-end portion of the 4lever 8 tothe upper door section 5 and is pivo'tedL to both, to angle the .two door sections with respect to each other whenthe Ydoor is beingopened or closed, as will be clear from lig. 2. When the door .is completely opened, it is disposed in a truly hori-v n zontal position, as shown in Fig. 3, with the levers 8 standing vertically, and it will be seen that said door is disposed in close relation with the roof of the building, this being allowed bywthe features above described for anglin the two 'door sections when opening or-closmg the door, since bysuch features, only little spaceis re uired above the door frame to permit the oor to operate freely without striking the roof; and due to the. l

arrangement of parts shown, the door moves across only a restricted portlon of the 1nwithin vthe latter may be utilizedA for the machine.' l p The device is of simple and inexpensive nature, yet it marks importagit advances over l my previous patent,`in that it requires less ceiling space and less front space to 'allow opening and closing; it dispenses with the pulleys, cables vand weights for raising the lower end of the door section 6; and operates .terior of the garage, so that more 'space I 1ct l' much more easily when usinglcoil springs than whenemploying cables and weights.

Since probabl the best `iesultsare obtained from the etails shown and described,

they may well be followed, butwithin the scope of the invention as, claimed, numerous minor changes may well be made. AFor instance,y the weights 13 if found undesirable'v A vshould be eliminated and other suitable counter-balancing means for the door used in lieu thereof.

I claim:

1. The combination witha buildinganda door frame thereof, of vertical tracks along the sides of lsaid frame, a door in said frameconsisting of an upper and a lower 4section hinged together, shoes on the lower door'seotion remote from the hinge 'line and'engag-l ing saidtracks, ylevers fulorumed inthe building and pivoted at one end to said lower door section to cause the door to moveupwardly and inwardly to a horizontal position when opening, and links extending from said levers to the u per door section to support the same and plvoted to both for angling the twov sections with respect to each other while' the'door is `moving from closed oi from open to closed position.

2. structure as specified in claim 1; together with yieldin vmembers connected to the door adjacent t e hinge line and exerting an inward pull thereon. v v

V3.11 structure as specified in claim 1; to-4 gether with elastic members extending across the Vangle lbetween said levers and the lower door section and connected to both.

4. A structure as specified inclaim 1; toj gether with yielding members connected to the door adjacent the hinge line and exerting an inward pull thereon,l and elastic meinbers extending across the angle between saidv l GEORGE B. BoUeHToN. 

